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FuzzyQuills,

I noticed something on pg 14 that you quoted me from about a "fuel tank", and I will say (since I haven't yet gone back and read what I actually said originally), I defer to Xanth always.

Xanth's perspective has so many similarities to my own that I am fully comfortable in letting him speak for me in most cases.

However, I'm gonna go read that page and see what I said. It's been several years, so many I have a different perspective now.

To everyone else who has found this to be a useful post, I'm very happy about that.

Have you ever tried to discern distinct details in an OBE state? It's tough.

Let's assume that you actually can see all of time and space while out of body, what makes you think you can perceive the nature of reality in any way that would be meaningful to your practic earth self? What makes you think time and space are even remotely similar to what we think they are? Reality is probably so insanely different than we think that we could never truly perceive it in this human form. Picking out something like lottery numbers in the vast expanse of "reality" is surely possible, but good luck figuring that out. I suspect that if you could, you'd have discovered a fundamental truth about reality that would let you shape it at will. Plus, I'm sure you'd be super famous back here on earth with the rest of us.

You should just go for that new age reality manifestation stuff.

I stumbled across this game and I really like it and want to support the developers, so I'm trying to spread the word.

The game is called Anodyne and the developers are temporarily offering a promo through The Pirate Bay to download the game for free.  The promo ends February 18, 2013 at 5:00am Central Standard Time, so if you like Zelda-esque action/adventure rpgs, ACT NOW!

I've made a post on my blog with all of the instructions to get your free copy.  Just go here -->  Anodyne - A 16-bit Inspired Adventure! and follow the instructions.  It's worth it.

I hate to keep linking my blog, but there are a bunch of links in that post and I didn't want to litter the forum with links to BitTorrent clients and Torrent sites (even though everyone here probably already has uTorrent and visits The Pirate Bay often enough as it is). 

Nevertheless, check it out.

The Cydonia teaser was one hell of a good read. I'll be glad to contribute in any way for the small fee of an autographed copy should it make it to hard print. An e-publishing is all but a guarantee IMO.

I'm going to sign the digital copies for those people that receive one.  Just make sure to sign up for the mailing list so you stay up to date on the book.

Like I said, this story was inspired by a song I produced (or maybe the song was inspired by the story - though it was all kind of inspired by a couple authors that I was reading at the time I created the song). 

so.  Whatever happens with this story, I will be selling it on Amazon and other ebook sites.  However!  I will also be creating a bundle that I will sell through my blog that contains the book in a few formats (epub, pdf, etc.) and an mp3 of the song that goes with the story.  The song is actually intended to be a radio transmission that comes from Cydonia's protagonist at the end of the story.

Anyway, I appreciate everyone's contribution to helping me succeed in my new authorship endeavor. 

Here's the deal.  I'm realizing that I have a lot more detail that I want to include in my "short story", but including that detail will make more of a book and less of a short story.

SO!

I need some help.  If you've got the time, do the following 3 things:

1. Go read Cydonia in a Nutshell to get an idea of the plot.

2. Then read Cydonia Teaser - Chapter 1

3. And finally, go to my publishing blog's home, Work of Hart Publications and use the poll on the left side of the page to cast your vote. 

Should I carry on and make this story a full length book, add a little more detail and make it a longish, but standalone short story, or should I be more succinct and add this story to a collection of short stories before I publish it?

Your input could really help.  So I give you all my thanks in advance.  If you can spare a few minutes to do this for me I will be forever grateful, and may be inclined to give you a free copy (maybe even personally autographed) when I finish the story in whatever form I decide on.

The poll ends on April 7th (my fiance's birthday).  So get on over there and let me know what you think!

Again, many thanks.

~PR (Rusty)

Right, so I have a few blogs out there.  But I just started a new one that deals specifically with my writing.  I've recently started working on a novel that I will be independently publishing as soon as I finish it.  My new blog is the home of my writings, progress reports, updates, teasers and free downloads.

I am working on a short story now, the first chapter of which I just posted.  So read it if you'd like.

http://hartpublishing.wordpress.com

I'm planning to publish it and sell it on Amazon and some other places as an ebook for somewhere between $1-$5 (depending on how long it ends up being).  But I may put it up for free download on my blog, so check it out if you got the time and feel like reading some sci-fi.

Shades.Of.Consciousness deals with all things metaphysical, spiritual, ontological, philosophical, who are we, where do we come from, why are we here type stuff.

The AlterEgo is my personal introspection blog where I talk about myself, my life, my messed up mind and anything else I feel like discussing. 

Hey, I have no argument with you there.  Like I said, I'm not into the paranormal (in the mainstream) and whenever I can debunk something I do.  But, I really couldn't explain the light in this photo.  There just wasn't anything around the camera that could cause that kind of light refraction.  I argued this picture forever with myself, but I took other pictures right around the same area and got none of those same effects.  It was an iphone camera, so the chances of light leaks and lens refraction are significantly lower than a nicer camera with a larger lens. 

But again, this really isn't my thing.  That's why I left it up to the viewer to decide what they believed was in the picture.  I'm kind of biased though because I was taught to "read faces" in photographs by a Venezuelan medium.  Basically he taught me to see faces in photographs, like in the background and such.  So I see figures in abstract forms a lot. 

I feel you though.  I really like that picture either way.  I really believe that there was some sort of energetic flash in the picture regardless of whether there really is an "entity" there.  I think the camera caught some electromagnetic energy of some sort.

But the candle in the window picture...I've got nothing for that one.  I've never had a picture like that.  I've got lots of pictures of orbs, energy coming off of crystal skulls and other things, all sorts of lights that just aren't artifacts of the camera, but I've never gotten a picture like that candle/lantern/light.  That one actually spooked me a bit.  I mean, I'm standing there taking pictures in this random yard, just to see if anything pops up, looking at this building that is completely dark and simultaneously looking at this picture on the phone that clearly shows a light.  It's like I knew the light was there, but I was looking at it and it wasn't there.  Total cognitive dissonance. 

Whatever it is, I thought these pictures were neat.  You may be entirely correct.  Who am I to say anything different?  I mean, I have been staring at it for 3 days.  I may be seeing what I want to see by now.

Word.

-PR

[Shades.Of.Consciousness]

Shades.Of.Consciousness [My Blog]
Inter-dimensional Entities! [The Post For This Topic]

I've been a little absent lately.  Had a lot going on in my life keeping me really busy, and the pulse is a luxury I can't afford right this second.  I have been posting regularly in my blog, so everyone ought to go read it.

Shades.Of.Consciousness [My Blog]
Inter-dimensional Entities! [The Post For This Topic]

Anyway, I wanted to share a post and some photographs from my trip to Colonial Williamsburg last Friday night.  Among other things on our itinerary Friday evening and Saturday morning was a "Ghosts of Colonial Williamsburg Tour".  The tour guide told us that every building in Colonial Williamsburg had exhibited some sort of paranormal activity, some more than others, but all of them nonetheless.  So, on the tour the guide took us to about 6 or 7 of the "most haunted" sites [naturally, one of them was the tavern we were staying in, The Brick House Tavern; my little sister in law didn't sleep much that night, she's terrified of paranormal activities of any kind].

The guide suggested that we take photographs because it wasn't entirely uncommon for guests to get pictures of "ghosts" or other paranormal type things.  So...I took pictures.  I'll post them here so that you don't have to go to my blog to see them if you don't want too.  But let me preface the photos [as I did in my post] by saying that I do not believe in ghosts.  For me, once you're dead, you're dead; I have to specify that I mean on this Earth, I do believe that your consciousness and even self-awareness lives on in some form.

In my post, I expressed that my opinion is that spectral entities seen by people and interpreted as ghosts are actually inter-dimensional people that can cross into this dimension.  There is a lot more to my theory on this subject, which you can read on my blog post if you want to hear more of my opinions. 

Shades.Of.Consciousness [My Blog]
Inter-dimensional Entities! [The Post For This Topic]

All of that aside, let's get to the exciting part, THE PHOTOS!  I must say, these are two of the best paranormal type photos I've ever gotten [except for maybe a shot I got at a Mayan Fire Ceremony of a field absolutely FULL of orbs, hundreds of them.  And when you zoomed in on some of the bigger ones, you could almost make out figures that looked like sprites or faeries].  The first is what I consider to be a person/being/whatever from another dimension, making an appearance in our dimension.  So, here it is:

I admit that I did adjust the contrast on this photo to make the form stand out a little bit more.  Nevertheless, as soon as I took this picture, me and my fiance immediately saw the light and then the figure.  If you don't see the figure, look in the middle of the picture, directly between and below the windows.  To me, it looks like a head, shoulders and then a torso that fades into a wisp that blows to the left with the light.  I know that there was no light leak in the camera [it was an iphone] because I took tons of pictures and all the rest were fine.  The flash was on, but there was nothing around me to create a reflection of light, nor was there anyone else taking a picture at that time.  So, I don't know, you tell me what you see. 

Now, the second photo is a bit different.  Here it is:

This one is not as explainable by my inter-dimensional person theory.  I think this falls into the category of an energetic imprint.  Some event leaves some imprint in the electromagnetic spectrum and plays out like a movie until the energy dissipates and the "apparition" fades away.  So let me explain what's actually happening in this picture.  I was standing by a brick wall, leaning on the wall for support to get a steady shot.  I wanted to just shoot this mostly empty yard, hoping for some orbs or something.  It may be a little tough to see, but in the center of the picture you can just barely see a white building with some dark rectangles on it, which were windows.  What you can't see is that this building continues all the way to the right out of frame.  But it was dark, foggy and I had the flash on, so it's hard to see the building period because of how far away it was.  All the way to the right you can see a lantern/candle in the far right window.  So here's the paranormal bit.  In real life, there was no light.  None.  There were no lights anywhere in the area of that building.  It was "late" by Colonial Williamsburg standards (about 6pm or so) and so all of the side streets and back buildings were closed down for the night.  The only place to find lights were on the main drag of the town.  This building was about 100 yards down a side street and my shooting was facing away from the main road that still had some street lights.  Both my fiance and her little sister came over and witnessed the area after I showed them the photo because they didn't believe it and they saw the same thing as me, absolutely NO lights in the area.  So there was essentially a "ghost candle" in the window that I can't explain.  I don't know, what do you all think?

Anyway, I just wanted to share these cool shots I got with you guys and see what you thought of them.  If you want to read my full theory on the specter and the energy imprints, along with a few other related topics [like explaining what I mean by "energy" and my description of consciousness as a form of electromagnetic technology that can perceive things our modern instruments can't; provided one's mind is disciplined or in the right state of mind at the right moment].

Shades.Of.Consciousness [My Blog]
Inter-dimensional Entities! [The Post For This Topic]

-PR [sorry for all the shameless blog promotion, but I want you guys to come read it]

This is a comic strip called "Psychonauts"

Psychonauts

For those unfamiliar with the term "psychonaut", these are people who explore the other realm with the assistance of hallucinogens.  Now, we DO NOT promote the use of the substances for OBEs.  The official reason is because this is a global forum and in many countries these substances are illegal.  However, in truth, the biggest problem is that these substances lead to unstable experiences.  You don't gain the control and subsequently the personal growth this way.  It's a short cut and you really can't truly become an OBE master by using short cuts.  The analogy that I have always liked is that becoming a master of OBEs and ultimately yourself is like climbing a mountain.  When you do this through dedicated practice, it takes longer, but you learn the topography of the mountain and carve your own path, which you can follow back down.  The same trip on hallucinogens is like strapping on a jet pack and hoping you hit the mountain, but you can easily overshoot the mountain, and you won't know you way back down.  The trip back down the mountain symbolizes assimilation of the knowledge learned at the top of the mountain. 

So I and the forum itself cannot condone the use of these substances to achieve OBEs and self knowledge.  I might say that were you to partake in a ceremony in the presence of a trained "shaman" or guide that will go on the journey with you and teach you the way back down along the way, that could be acceptable because it's essentially religious in nature which makes it exempt from most laws (like the right to religious freedom in the USA). 

Nevertheless, the comic is neat and explores the other realm from the prospective of the author (who you can follow on twitter @PlaidKlaus) and is worth checking out.

I think it's pretty neat.  You might too.

I think you're too obsessed with achieving projection and with "proof" of what you believe projection to be.

You suffer from that all to common syndrome that we call "trying to hard".

My best advice is to find the simplest practice that you've had the most success with and keep doing it over and over.  Everyday if you can.  In addition to that, keep a regular journal of each experience.  I don't like giving explanations necessarily, it's better if you figure it out on your own.  However, because you seem to be very focused on "proof", I'll tell you why I recommend this practice.

At the end of the day, like everything in life, there is no "one way" that works for everybody or anybody.  Every person has to discover their own path, no matter what it is they are trying to accomplish.  My favorite example is the buddha or Jesus.  Mystics like these people didn't intend for their path to be copied to the letter.  Rather, their example is simply to show you that it is possible.  You aren't supposed to walk their path, but the fact that they walked their path lets you know that it has been done and you can do it as well.  Some of their experiences might be similar to your own experiences, but your's are always going to be unique to you.  It's just the nature of the human being.  Why would you have a unique perception if all you were gonna do was copy someone else?

So, with that in mind, keeping a journal and a regular practice allows you to navigate your path as you trudge through the wilderness of self-discovery.  Take my advice with a grain of salt if it doesn't align with your vibe, but I can promise you that no one here or anywhere has had the same experience as anyone else.  Sure, there may be some commonalities, but nothing is identical and in the end all the successful projectors had to make their own way.  They learned some things from others, but the actual projection itself happened through their own doing, not through the actions of the teachers.

Give it a try if you're patient and feel like committing to a specific practice for a while.  But don't be scared to tweak that practice, switch things up as you deem it necessary.  Make your own projection ritual.

this is funny.  this morning on a local radio talk show the host was talking about a "new" mental illness called Nomophobia, which is the fear of being without your mobile device (cell phone, tablet, etc., whatever connects you to everyone else on the interwebs).

my concern is transhumanism, making humans more and more devoted to technology to the point that we merge with technology (brain chips all the way to full robotic implants and such.  maybe even to the point of something like surrogates), and then one day, the technological singularity comes and AI is born and then the matrix happens.

personally, i love the things i am able to do with technology, but it's not at all difficult for me to not use my technological devices.  i mean, i prefer to have my cell phone because it's the only phone i have (no house phone or anything), and it's also my date book, etc, etc, but i could be without it and i wouldn't mind.  there might be a little of the FOMO (fear of missing out) going on at first, but i'm not all about social networking and blah blah.  i pretty much only call 3 people (fiance, mom, dad) and only text with my fiance.  i do like that i have emulators for NES, SNES, SEGA, Gameboy & Gameboy Advance on my phone lol. 

but, it's not just me that's the concern, it's society as a whole.  the fact that nomophobia exists is a problem to me.  or how about when i went to my doctor's office a couple weeks ago and their computer system was down?  they couldn't pull up any of my records, couldn't change my records (ie the new medications i was put on) and they couldn't take payment (so i got a free doctor's visit because they didn't remember the next time i went and there was no record of my visit).  what happens if we get a solar flare that knocks all of our electronics out.  nevermind all of the industries that are completely automated, what about our day to day lives, computers, tvs, doctor's visits?  i think we'd go crazy as a society.  individually we might handle it fine, but as a whole, we'd lose out minds.

That's really cool Stookie.

I did some stained glass work in high school art class (i think i made a big sunflower for my mom).

It was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed it.  I'd love to do it again if I ever get some legit studio space.

But again, I can't express how great that is.  It's really really good.

be careful with signposts (vibes, etc.)

they aren't always "accurate"

but you're close.

you'll know when the time is right.

no.

scams.

enough said.

no one can show you the way.

anything they teach, you can discover on your own.

god doesn't exist in any traditional sense.

god is simply the infinite knowledge of self.

any religious god is bunk and you'd be deluded to believe in such a thing. 

legal.

it's safer than alcohol.

it's only illegal because it threatened the timber industry back in the day.  hemp makes much better paper than trees.

as long as it takes.

you're in a trance when you watch tv.  that takes minutes.  but i know that's not what you mean.

it depends on how well you can control your mind and relax it.  don't put a time limit on it.

just roll with it and you'll know when you're there.

my best advice is to "pretend to go to sleep".  just act like you're going to sleep but maintain the tiniest thread of the idea that you're on a mission.  you'll get there quick.  it's the best way to trick yourself into trance.  normally people try to hard to enter trance and it prevents them from achieving it.  so relax and just "go to sleep".

ROFL Yes, there just "are" bad people out there. 
Canadia is a bad place.

Bowling for Columbine was just on tv the other day while I was reading and I stopped to take notice when he went to canada and just walked into people's houses because no one locked their doors.  So I was just wondering.

Those are really good PR . I like how you did the eyes, and the outline on your hair in the 2nd one.

I never really got into painting (without krylon ), though I know I will at some point. The price of paint and supplies always drove me away.

this is a secret, just between me and you.

i used to work at an arts & crafts supply store called A.C. MOORE, kind of like Michael's, though I think they have a much better art department than michael's.  I was the supervisor of the art department (the only management job I've ever had) because of my art experience and notoriety (I won first place in the Virginia State Art Fair for charcoal drawing, which is apparently a big deal because the Classroom/Workshop/Studio Director hired me because she recognized my name from the art fair). 

anyway, I wasn't a good employee.  Every single piece of my art supplies (except my canvases and gesso, which I make myself') I stole from A.C. MOORE.  Paint, brushes, palette paper, paint thinner, masking fluid, all kinds of oils and additives, etc., etc., etc.  I have literally thousands of dollars worth of painting supplies, every bit of which I stole.  So yea, I understand what you mean.  It's expensive.  But there's nothing like good old fashioned oil painting.  Though most painters I know have switched to acrylics because oil is just too high maintenance and expensive.  It really is tedious to set up and clean up oil paint.  Acrylic just takes a little water.  I still love oils though.  watercolors are fun too. 

you know, i would also recommend getting into charcoal.  it's an underused medium and it's really quite amazing once you get the hang of working with it.  just be prepared to get your fingers dirty.  nothing blends charcoal like fingers.

I know the proper PSI to inflate my car tire to.

That my good friend is a damn fine answer.

i vote that this is the best answer to the question.

don't blame everything on energy.

sometimes our lives just have to go through trials in order to progress.

i will recommend some good grounding though.

go outside barefoot and just stand in the grass.  connect yourself with the earth.  imagine a pole running down your spin and deep into the earth's core and just meditate on that a bit.  then go hug a tree, literally.  trees are the human equivalent in the natural world.  their roots reach deep in the ground like out root chakra and their branches reach the heavens just like our crown chakra.  and their trunks represent out most important chakra, the heart chakra, the balancing point.  hug a tree and connect your heart with its.  you'll feel much better.

maybe carry around a stone called hematite and one called magnetite.  together they are very grounding.  i always wear a hematite ring and carry magnetite eveywhere i go.  i also wear a lot of other talismans and stones, but that's besides the point.

goof luck.

-PR

i know my reality.  it's mine and mine alone.  no one will ever know it.

granted, i don't know it intellectually.

but i know it in my heart, i know it in an indescribable way.

another one.  this is my favorite.

some self-portraits i did recently.

Yes,  and I addressed this, but they're not hierarchical as the terms "higher"  and "lower"  suggest.   They just "are".
At least as I've found.   

how zen of you.

love the way you think man.

oh, question.  do you lock your doors at night up there in canada?